The broad-scale public acceptance of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will likely depend upon a number of factors. These factors include the development of a network of easily accessible charging spaces where owners of PHEVs and EV scan charge their vehicles when not in use. Initially, development of the market for charging spaces will likely focus on the dedicated user market, meaning electrified parking spaces (hereinafter “EP spaces”) (i.e., parking space served by electric charging stations) located at places of employment, in parking structures, or in public parking areas for the regular use of electrified fleet vehicles or specific private owners of EVs and PHEVs. The nature of this “dedicated market” is such that as the number of EVs and PHEVs grows over time, the supply of EP spaces for dedicated users will likely expand in unison with demand.
During this period of transition, it can be reasonably anticipated that supply of and demand for charging spaces will be frequently out of balance. As demand for EP spaces grows, entrepreneurs will seek to serve the at-large market by installing charging stations at parking spaces on both public and private property. The growth of this market, however, will likely be constrained by the competing demands of conventional vehicle owners for a limited supply of parking spaces. Conventional vehicle owners will likely resent the loss of available public parking spaces to EV and PHEV users unless those spaces are used as frequently as other parking spaces in the area. Local political pressure may limit the growth of the EV and PHEV market unless sufficient demand for EP spaces can be demonstrated to warrant the removal of another parking space from the supply previously available to conventional vehicle owners. Monitoring the growth of demand for EP spaces and mediating the competing demands parking spaces by owners of conventional vehicles on an individual parking space-by-parking space basis would be enormously cumbersome, particularly for public parking sponsors, such as municipalities or parking authorities.
A primary focus of concern going forward will be managing the availability of a number of parking spaces some of which may be equipped with electric charging stations (“ECs”) such that an adequate supply of locations for charging EVs, PHEVs, as well as parking for other preferred vehicle types (“PVTs”), such as high-efficiency fuel powered vehicles, as may be designated by a parking sponsor, while minimizing the number of parking spaces made unavailable to conventional vehicles. This concern will grow as developments in electric charging station technology—particularly the development of rapid charging technologies over the coming decade that will enable EVs and PHEVs to be charged in as little as 10 minutes—will increase the demand for EP spaces while also intensifying competition with conventional vehicle owners for the limited supply of public parking.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved management system and associated processes for managing electrified parking space utilization.